I was born and educated in Parma. I took my MD and Degree in Neurology at the School of Medicine of the University of Parma, Italy. I am Full Professor of Physiology at the Dept. of Neuroscience of the School of Medicine of the University of Parma. I am the Coordinator of the PhD Program in Neuroscience of the University of Parma and the Director of the Doctoral School of Medicine of the University of Parma. Since 2010 I am ‘Adjunct Research Scholar’ at the Dept. of Art History and Archeology of Columbia University, New York, U.S.A.

I worked at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Nihon University of Tokyo, Japan, and at the University of California at Berkeley, USA. In 2002 I was Visiting Professor at the Brain and Mind Institute of the University of Berkeley. In 2014 I was KOSMOS Fellow at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain of Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.

I am member of the Italian Society of Physiology, of the Italian Society of Neuropsychology, of the European Brain and Behavior Society, of the International Neuropsychological Symposium, and of the Scientific Committee of the Fondation Fyssen, Paris, France.

(2002) George Miller Visiting Professor Fellowship – University of California at Berkeley, USA.

Research Interests

My major research interest lies in the relationship between action perception and cognition, using a variety of neurophysiological and neuroimaging techniques.
I am also interested in developing an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of the embodied bases of intersubjectivity and social cognition.
I have published more than 200 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and edited books.

Research Areas

Cognitive Neuroscience

The current research project concerns:

The study of the neural and pysiological mechanisms enabling the constitution of the bodily self and of its altrations in psychopathological states.

The study of the neural and pysiological mechanisms enabling the human capacity to understand the actions, emotions and sensations of others and of how these capacities may be altered in schizophrenia, depression, autism and eating disorders.

The study of the role of the sensory-motor system in the understanding of language.

The study of the neural correlates of aesthetic experience of visual arts and film.

Research Team

Monica Allegri

Marianna Ambrosecchia

Martina Ardizzi

Marta Calbi

Michele Guerra

Katrin Heimann

Mariateresa Sestito

Maria Alessandra Umiltà

My publications (clic on the blue link - when present - in each line, to open the PDF file of the article)

Gallese V., Sinigaglia C. (2012).
Response to de Bruin and Gallagher: embodied simulation as reuse is a productive explanation of a basic form of mind-reading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(2): 99-100, 2012. [PDF]